The Purdue computer science professor, who focuses on cyber security, has a computer whose operating system and software he generally doesn’t bother to update, even though he sometimes uses it to access sensitive files. That’s because the computer isn’t connected to the internet, which is generally the source of most malware.

When Kelley Misata was selecting research for her Ph.D dissertation at Purdue University Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS), she looked at ways to help organizations working with victims of violence. What she discovered is that the first area they needed help with was base-lining and assessing their cybersecurity readiness. As it turned out, this was not only a crucial area of concern but also a research topic that hadn’t yet been explored.